


Victoriously Broken

by onlypreciousloves



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Lea and Selina are OCs, M/M, Motorcycle ride, Sexual Confusion, cause I apparently cannot write without angst..., cause IgNar is a sweetheart who rides a motorcycle, cause these two are literally the fluffiest people I've ever seen, slight angst, ↞ true fact
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 04:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10757118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlypreciousloves/pseuds/onlypreciousloves
Summary: Steven’s not that new to the scene, but he’s no veteran.Regardless, a loss hurts, no matter how much you try to hide it.In times of defeat maybe a motorcycle ride is all you need.





	Victoriously Broken

“GG well-played,” Steven muttered under his breath as the team made their way down the sleek, black steps of the Hamburg stage. No one could really hear him under the screams and cheers of the fans in the crowd. But following closely behind him, Donggeun heard. He heard it loud and clear, as if they were the only two in a small, empty room.

 

It wasn’t the words themselves, but the utter defeat he felt in the 17-year-old’s voice that sent a dreadful pang through his chest.

 

“IgNar” knew how it felt to end a season with a loss. Losing two high pressure matches within a week definitely took a strain on one’s health. Mentally and physically. Donggeun couldn’t help but feel concerned while watching his lane partner go through the post-game motions. Even after a loss, Steven was usually all smiles, eager to improve after a lost match, but today was different.

 

Perhaps it was because this loss ended their Spring Split. Steven’s first season in LCS, ended with a meager 4th place after losing two matches in a row. Their reverse-sweep against Splyce was long forgotten, and nothing but the heavy defeat from playing against Fnatic and Unicorns of Love remained.

 

Back in their warmup room, Steven had already packed up. Usually, he would be the one teasing Donggeun about being the slowest to pack before the fanmeet. He’d often poke fun for a few moments before Byungkwon came over to poke the young boy’s cheeks and drag him off to rummage through the snacks offered by Riot in a separate room with two arms draped over the tall Frenchie’s angular shoulders. Despite being the oldest member on the team, and a veteran player in the professional scene, Byungkwon normally acted as though he were the youngest.

But today wasn’t like _usual_. Steven didn’t poke much fun and Byungkwon wasn’t hopping around like a child.

 

Donggeun leaned against the hallway wall in exhaustion. With the Misfits’ Snapchat aimed at him, Steven laughed while claiming that the loss didn’t bring him down as much as it might’ve. He was smiling. He was laughing. But it wasn’t the usual happy demeanor of the young French boy.

 

“Just keep smiling,” Steven dodged into the frame of the camera while Donggeun silently spread his arms against the beige wall. From the edge of his vision he could see Steven raising his hands to either poke at his cheeks or wrap around his shoulders, but they stopped midway. It hadn’t been caught by the Snap, but he had caught the hesitation. Before he could think much about it, Steven suddenly leaned in closer than expected, making his own lips curl up into a slight smile at the younger boy’s antics.

 

Donggeun didn’t want to smile, since it would’ve been out of happiness while his AD Carry’s wasn’t. The younger boy never failed to make him smile despite his wishes not to, even back when they were both playing in the Challenger Series, fighting together for a spot in LCS. If Steven wasn’t happy, he didn’t want to be happy either. It wouldn’t be fair to him. So, to hide the smile, Donggeun pursed his lips and assaulted the boy with a few, weak and playful hits to chase him off.

 

For a moment, the amused laughter that flew from the boy’s lips sounded true, but it didn’t last. The laughs died down as soon as the camera stopped recording and all that was left was Donggeun staring up at the tall boy who said nothing before shuffling away towards the fanmeet.

 

The Support let out a tired sigh. He felt like he should say something, or even do something, to cheer up his partner. He wasn’t good at comforting words, or even the English language. He wanted to do something though; he just didn’t know what exactly he could do.

 

~~~

 

G2 were the champions this split. Again. Nothing less to be expected from such a mechanically-skilled, well-adapting roster.

 

From across the parking lot, Donggeun numbly watched through his thick-framed, square glasses as people fanned out to their respective vehicles once the night of the EU LCS finals was over.

 

Maybe he should’ve felt more from his own loss, but Donggeun felt more uncomfortable from the lack of their team’s routine even the day after. Steven still wasn’t smiling off-camera, and neither Byungkwon nor Tristan were laughing and trolling around. As soon as the night was over, Barney disappeared off to somewhere, probably to meet up with his family. 

 

The Korean support caught sight of Steven’s parents hugging him in front of the charter bus, but he couldn’t understand a word they exchanged as he approached since they all spoke entirely in French. It was at times like these that Donggeun was reminded that even with the few phrases and words Steven taught him every day, he didn’t know nearly enough of the Romance language to understand or make conversations.

 

The young AD Carry was simply just an empty shell of his normal self while his parents gave him comforting pats and hugs. When Steven spoke in his first language, Donggeun couldn’t tell if he was expressing his frustration, his anger, or his sadness from the loss to his family with that emotionless façade.

 

He was never really good at reading people anyway, but Donggeun was distressed by Steven’s lack of expression. How was he supposed to comfort his partner if he wasn’t even sure what said partner was feeling? You don’t comfort anger the same way you’d comfort sadness.

 

The brown-haired boy stuffed his hands in his pockets with a quiet sigh as he waited for everyone else to board the bus. He wanted to enjoy the evening air a little bit before he got onto the stuffy air-conditioned bus. Donggeun leaned his back against the bus’s frame, turning his head to look up at the darkened sky. Out here, there was no end to the sky. So much space to breath. There was something comforting about the infinitely extending space above his head.

 

A few minutes later, Dongguen bounded up the tall steps of the bus after making sure his bags were stowed in the compartments underneath. His weary eyes scanned the seats on the bus for the spot he’d take for the next two hours. Even though he was almost the last one to board, there were a lot of empty seats on the bus since it was only the team and the small Misfits managing staff.

 

Tristan sat on the right side in the middle of the bus, headphones over his ears and eyes closed. If not for his moving lips, soundlessly mouthing the words to some song, Donggeun would’ve thought he was already sleeping.

 

Byungkwon had one earphone in his ear and legs crossed on the cushion where he sat on the left side of the aisle, closer to the front of the bus. His right leg was propped up so he could rest his elbow on it and his chin on the palm of his hand while he stared out at the unmoving scene outside the window.

 

Barney had decided to go home early with his family. He had brought the things from the house he wanted to take home, so he didn’t need to ride back with the team. He didn’t mind that the Top laner was going home earlier. It wasn’t like they’d never see each other again. In a couple more weeks, they’d be grinding out some practice before the Summer Split began. If he had the opportunity to go home earlier and spend just one more day in South Korea with his family, Donggeun knew he would.

 

_“Oui, maman, Je te vais téléphoner…quand nous serons arrivés à Berlin._ _Oui, je promette. Maman…”_

 

Even though he spoke softly, Donggeun could recognize the French from anywhere. His eyes locked onto the fluffy, black hair of his AD Carry slumping down in his seat, closer to the back of the bus. Without much thought, the Support made his way down the narrow aisle until he was standing beside Steven’s seat. The younger boy didn’t even look up to acknowledge his presence, only continuing to stare out the window like Byungkwon as he spoke into the phone pressed against his ear. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but he couldn’t help the frown on his lips when Steven didn’t even look at him.

 

Donggeun pursed his lips slightly before sliding into the seat across the aisle from the French boy. After settling into his seat, the Korean glanced across the aisle several times as if making sure Steven hadn’t disappeared on him.

 

He’s never been good with words, much less comforting other people. He had never needed to comfort anyone. Yet, Steven was different. Something about the younger made him feel the need to comfort him. To hold him and tell him that everything was okay. He wanted to tell him not to be angry, sad, frustrated, or _whatever the hell_ he was feeling. He just wanted to be there for him, and listen to the boy rant.

 

He was 17 years old for crying out loud. He couldn’t _not_ be feeling anything after their recent losses.

 

Yet, there he sat. Steven Liv. An unreadable expression on his face. His usually restless fingers weren’t even messing around with his bangs or scribbling away at his sketchpad.

 

 _Just_ do _something. Cry, scream, punch something! Anything!_

 

Steven was good at keeping his composure, but this was an eerie lack of feeling he was showing. Nothing showed him whether the younger boy was bottling up his anger and frustration or trying to hide his sadness.

 

Donggeun had his back against the window and wall so that he was facing his lane partner, who stared out the window on the other side. Donggeun had his feet propped up on the other seat and his knees bent so that he could rest his arms on them. The longer he stared at the boy across the aisle, the more frustrated he got. His hands clenched tightly into fists. What could he do? He’s never felt so useless.

 

He wanted to see that smile again. He wanted to hear that deep laugh. He wanted to see the gleam in Steven’s eyes that showed him that the boy was content.

 

All he saw now was an empty shell of the boy he knew.

 

The sound of a text message snapped him out of his thoughts. Donggeun reached down to find his phone inside the backpack he had placed down on the ground beside him.

 

**[Lea Klein]**

<< hey, how’re you doing? >>

 

For some reason, he thought taking a glance at his weary teammates, who were trapped in their own thoughts, would help him answer the message. Unfortunately, it didn’t really help.

 

 Donggeun had first met Lea on an exploring walk through the suburbs of Berlin.

 

Lea was a girl he’d met outside of a small workshop, tinkering away at a sleek, red Yamaha R3. He’d probably been more drawn to the bike than the girl at the time since it was the same model he had back home. The only stark difference was that his was blue, but he had still thought that hers was just as stunning.

 

He could’ve also been drawn to the fact that it was a girl who had crouched beside it. Rarely ever had Donggeun ever met a girl who not only rode a motorcycle, but maintained it well. The bike looked as good as new. He would’ve thought it was recently bought if it weren’t for the faded crescent sticker that was peeling off on the gas tank.

 

Once she had felt his presence, she turned around with a smile on her grease-marked face. Much to his surprise, after a few minutes of him struggling to sputter out English and trying to understand her through her heavy German accent, she had tested out some Korean on him. Although it was still lightly accented, it made it much easier for him to communicate his thoughts.

 

It turned out that, despite her German name, her mother came from a Japanese-Korean family. Lea grew up speaking primarily German and Japanese, but picked up some conversational Korean on visits to her maternal grandmother throughout her childhood. Her parents had expected Lea to become a diplomat with her knack for picking up languages, but surprised them all when she started delving in the mechanical workings of motor vehicles.

 

What he had originally intended to be a 30-minute walk to cool his head from SoloQ turned into a couple hours of chatting with a stranger he’d just met in the neighborhood. As the Spring Split passed, Lea started to drop by the gaming house whenever Donggeun had a free day to let him borrow her bike for a de-stressing ride around town.

 

A few more visits into this routine, Lea started bringing baked sweets from the café she worked part-time at for the team. She started riding with Donggeun instead of just letting him borrow it while she worked at her second part-time job. One time, Donggeun had expressed his desire to explore the city a little and find some quiet places for him to just go and collect his thoughts sometimes. Lea just gave him her signature grin in response and tossed him the second helmet strapped to the back of her seat. “Hop on, let me show you a few places.”

 

As he remembered how the small, female mechanic took him to quiet places around the city, the Support suddenly came up with an idea. As they casually sent messages back and forth, in the dark of the night, Donggeun glanced across the aisle at a now sleeping Steven who had left the light over his seat on, casting a dim halo on his glossy hair.

<< Lea, can I borrow your bike? >>

~~~ 

 

The doorbell rang around 11 AM the next day when Donggeun had been sitting on the couch in their common room with a pillow hugged to his chest. Nothing was any better than the night before. The only thing that seemed normal was the clicking in the otherwise quiet house from ‘KaKAO’ and ‘PowerOfEvil’ on their keyboards and mice in SoloQ. The soundtrack of some anime he was watching with Steven played quietly, but Donggeun was paying more attention to his unfeeling lane partner than the show they were watching. The AD Carry was buried underneath a pile of pillows, with his face peeking out to watch the TV screen with bored eyes.

 

“Got it!” Donggeun tossed aside the pillow the moment he heard the bell and jumped up to make his way to the front door. Steven didn’t say anything, but Hussain gave him a curious raise of his eyebrow from where he sat, eating his cereal at the dining table. The Korean support was rarely ever that excited to get the door even for his routine drives with Lea.

 

“Hiya!”

 

He was met with bright, ash-blue eyes and a quirky smile when he opened the door to see the cyclist standing outside their door, leaning against her bike. She had a midnight-blue helmet strapped to the back of the bike, and a dark-red one in her hands.

 

“You’re awfully cheery today. Y’know more than usual,” Donggeun couldn’t help his smile as he let the Korean just naturally roll off his tongue. But as quickly as he thought of his friend’s excitement, his eyes caught the sleek body of the bike that was identical to his in everything but color and her personal touch with the stickers.

 

His heart raced in excitement. It’s felt like forever since he’s gotten to ride.

 

The Korean boy was so excited he almost missed the light blush that painted Lea’s cheeks as she suddenly became shy from his observations. “Selina called. She’s coming home for the summer. She didn’t get to play while being a sub for another team, so she wanted to come home for a little,” she bit down on her bottom lip while curling her midnight black hair behind her pierced ear.

 

Donggeun remembered Selina – AD Kill’s reliable Top laner – as the girl who had broken Lea’s heart when she left the country to pursue a career in the professional scene of North America. Their relationship was _complicated_ , was all that Lea offered. Sometimes, she would tell him of a fond memory or two she had shared with the other girl, but most of the time she looked as though she wanted to cry whenever she mentioned the Aryan girl. He was never one to assume things, but Donggeun guessed that they were at least dating, if it wasn’t a one-sided pining on Lea’s part.

 

He couldn’t see what was so great about Selina coming home, but he could imagine that the love-struck 22-year-old was just happy her girlfriend would be back by her side.

 

“Anyway, I don’t have a shift today, but I’ll just hang around at the café and finish up some stories I’ve been working on. Just make sure you don’t get this baby in any trouble, m’kay?” Lea gave the frame of her bike a gentle pat before giving the Korean pro-gamer a soft shove with her tiny fist.

 

The grin that spread on his lips was too big for his face. “You’re the best friend ever!”

 

“I know,” she gave him a playful wink before turned around and heading off to the café down the street.

**Author's Note:**

> Slight note: pretty sure they didn’t have a charter bus for the ride, but a much smaller one. Not 100% sure, but I don’t think they had a charter bus, so that’s probably as made up as Lea and Selina.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed what I have so far! Please tell me what you think!! 
> 
> Always grateful to my betas (AeonWing & biofrostlol)
> 
> NEW NOTE: (7/30)  
> While I had a lot more written for this story already at the beginning, I haven't had any time to work on it lately ever since I started planning out more of what I'm doing with MH, so I'll be letting this story go for now, but I'll try to get back to it whenever I get around to it. I know it can be disappointing to hear, but I'm hoping I can get back to this story and develop it more (after I've finished MH, since that story _is_ my main one)


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